(12/03/2018)
Dear President Tusk and the Bulgarian Presidency of the European Union,
We would like to bring to your attention a speech made by Viktor Orbán in Miskolc, Hungary on March 1st that targeted Roma people and migrants and asylum seekers. We are deeply concerned by the remarks made as we believe no responsible head of government should openly engage in such hate speech.
For your reference, Mr Orban said that “Hungary has two paths that it can choose from: whether it will have a national government, in which case Hungary will not become an immigrant country, or whether George Soros’ people will form the government, in which case Hungary will become an immigrant country. I don’t want to talk about this at length because I don’t have to talk about this much in Miskolc, where people know what immigration is. There was a time in Miskolc when masses came into the city from outside the city. They witnessed what happened. The people of Miskolc experienced what happened then. And the people who came to Miskolc came from inside the territory of Hungary. Now just imagine when a people with a completely different culture, habits and a view of life come here from outside our borders. And the people of Miskolc should know that migrants always go to the big cities — that’s where the ghettos will be established, the no-go zones, parallel societies. That is where the difficulties of coexistence and the deterioration of public safety will occur.”
The remarks made by Prime Minister Orban will fuel further discrimination and hate speech against Roma, migrants and asylum seekers. In particular, the 12 million Roma living in Europe, most of whom are already denied access to welfare, education, healthcare and employment as well as are often victims of arbitrary seizures, destruction of property, forced evictions and unacceptably slow investigations of hate crime.
We believe that you need to take swift action and ensure that Member States follow the European Union’s strong commitment to combatting anti-Gypsyism and hate speech. Remarks such as Mr Orban’s go against the common values of the European Union.
Yours sincerely,